The Order in Chaos
Appealing and Convenient
I am not averse to the idea of eating on the throne,
even though I am disinclined to try it. (Someone
just told me that perhaps I will be averse to it if I
call it the commode instead of the throne) But,
I am slightly put off by the idea of placing kitchen
gadgets next to the "commode" or the tub.
It may be that I am a huge fan not just of convenience but also of appeal. I am big on the philosophical principles of aesthetics. I am very conforming like that! I am constantly negotiating the sights and smells of my universe, and am most at home when I've reached my optimum esthetic balance!
I like arranging every element in my life into some structured, efficient system. It is besides the point that my kind of organization doesn’t fit the standard definition of orderliness. For instance, I have books on the dining table, clothes on the floor, food in the bedroom, makeup in the car, pillows on the kitchen table … There is an order and purpose to everything. To an outsider, my world is the embodiment of mess! Mom for instance, has this incessant urge to neatly fold my clothes and put them back in the closet whenever she visits me.. It takes me a whole two weeks to redo the house the way I like it after she leaves! I don't see any of this as being messy, or dirty or disorderly, for I spend hours at a stretch creating my chaotic world. But if I must justify my way of life, here's one thought: a shoe in the shoe stand is not any cleaner than when it is sitting in the middle of the living room. And if you think the clothes on the floor are dirtier than on the shelf, it's time to clean the floor!!!
What I find most hypocritical is the pretense of cleanliness, like when I have to stuff things into closets even if they are dirty and don't make organizational sense, because I have people over! As a result, my whole world falls apart, because I can't find my things when I need them, and it takes me twice as long to clean everything!
Here's another thought: More often than not, when things are crammed into small spaces for too long, even if they are neatly folded or arranged properly, the chances are that they are accumulating dust faster than if they were outside, getting a blast of fresh clean air every so often!
One example would be the naphthalene balls from my childhood days, that we used to put in suitcases with old clothes that we meant to give away eventually. While the balls did a good job of combatting silverfish, they not only left a pungent smell, but also did little to keep the clothes clean.
I find the whole concept of distinguishable rooms - living room, bedroom, study and so on absolutely inconvenient! If not a waste of space, it is certainly improper use of it, and extremely inconvenient for many different reasons. By this, I don’t mean that I want to bring down the walls between rooms quite literally, but that I want to bring them down figuratively! The thought being-- why must the living room have just couches and side-tables, bedrooms have just beds and so on… If the purpose of distinguished rooms is to define spaces and make it more practicable or convenient, then it has been doing anything but that for me! I see the benefit to defining spaces and creating a system, but it does not have to conform to established norms that have very little functional value!
When I conform to these standard room types, I am making use of less than a quarter of the 1300 sq. ft space that I currently rent. When I am home, I am either on the couch, or on the bed, or in the kitchen - with the couch being the most occupied piece of furniture and space in the apartment! The wastage defeats everything I believe in – a) it is an ecological waste - seeing as I have literally increased my footprint on this planet with no quantifiable benefit to me! It’s a waste of space, energy, resources, what have you. b) It makes no economical sense to buy more than I require! c) It is in no way creative use of space!
That being said, I can’t bring myself to live in a 400 sq. ft space even if that is as much area as I will be using. The unused area is something I still need, and its purpose is just to give me that “breathing space”, like the blank spaces in a busy painting! But, my peeve is when I am not using it creatively or efficiently enough when I want to!
I think it is ironic that the more money a person makes, the less say they have in the things they do or buy. Every house in the world is more or less alike in the overall organizational theme, even when it comes to aesthetics. They only differ in the price of the possessions, but in general there is nothing in the world that brings all humans together like the concepts of living rooms and bedrooms! Couches arranged horizontally and vertically, with a painting on the walls behind them, a tv in front of them, a few side tables, a book shelf, some artifacts or plants –- that's the definition of a living room in every part of the world!
I want a bookshelf in every room with comics and magazines in the bathroom, non-thinking novels in the bedroom, thought-provoking books for the metro, conversational books for the living room and so on. I want a pingpong table whereever it will fit, even if it is right in the middle of the living room, I want to be able to make coffee closest to the patio or the couch where I watch tv, read a book, talk on the phone and spend the most time drinking coffee! I want to replace my large fridge with three tiny fridges that I can spread out in the areas I most use so that I don't have to walk too far to get myself a beer or a glass of milk! (By the way, three tiny fridges is more energy efficient than one big fridge). I want an easy-chair in the kitchen to read a book or listen to music while I wait for my food to get cooked! I can go on! The point being, I want to imagine a world where every room had a little bit of everything neatly arranged into a system, but not quite in the "bedroom, living room, kitchen!" sort of fashion. Imagine little compartmentalized areas based on activity. The "comics and magazines" area, the "bird watching window", "the laptop couch", "the kitchen sofa" and so on..
I also want to bring the outside inside as much as possible. I don't like the idea of seeing nature only when I get out of the house, when in fact I AM a part of it and it is meant to be all around me!
I want the best bang for the buck, and the kind of bang that is both appealing and convenient (Speaking of bang, it seems to apply to other aspects of my life as well .. ;-) .. but I digress!)
People who have known me long enough or seen this about me, know this about me! So this post is yet another redundant discussion on my biggest rant about cookie-cutter houses, but I can't say it enough. I don’t come all the way to America, to the land of freedom and opportunity, to live in a cookie cutter house!
DAD COMPLETELY AGREES :D
MOM SAYS SHE CANT WAIT TO COME HOME AND CLEAN MY CUPBOARD, AND THINKS I AM MAKING EXCUSES FOR BEING LAZY... AND THAT THE "NO ROOMS" CONCEPT WAS INTERESTING!
TAPI LOVES ME NO MATTER WHAT! :D
It may be that I am a huge fan not just of convenience but also of appeal. I am big on the philosophical principles of aesthetics. I am very conforming like that! I am constantly negotiating the sights and smells of my universe, and am most at home when I've reached my optimum esthetic balance!
I like arranging every element in my life into some structured, efficient system. It is besides the point that my kind of organization doesn’t fit the standard definition of orderliness. For instance, I have books on the dining table, clothes on the floor, food in the bedroom, makeup in the car, pillows on the kitchen table … There is an order and purpose to everything. To an outsider, my world is the embodiment of mess! Mom for instance, has this incessant urge to neatly fold my clothes and put them back in the closet whenever she visits me.. It takes me a whole two weeks to redo the house the way I like it after she leaves! I don't see any of this as being messy, or dirty or disorderly, for I spend hours at a stretch creating my chaotic world. But if I must justify my way of life, here's one thought: a shoe in the shoe stand is not any cleaner than when it is sitting in the middle of the living room. And if you think the clothes on the floor are dirtier than on the shelf, it's time to clean the floor!!!
What I find most hypocritical is the pretense of cleanliness, like when I have to stuff things into closets even if they are dirty and don't make organizational sense, because I have people over! As a result, my whole world falls apart, because I can't find my things when I need them, and it takes me twice as long to clean everything!
Here's another thought: More often than not, when things are crammed into small spaces for too long, even if they are neatly folded or arranged properly, the chances are that they are accumulating dust faster than if they were outside, getting a blast of fresh clean air every so often!
One example would be the naphthalene balls from my childhood days, that we used to put in suitcases with old clothes that we meant to give away eventually. While the balls did a good job of combatting silverfish, they not only left a pungent smell, but also did little to keep the clothes clean.
I find the whole concept of distinguishable rooms - living room, bedroom, study and so on absolutely inconvenient! If not a waste of space, it is certainly improper use of it, and extremely inconvenient for many different reasons. By this, I don’t mean that I want to bring down the walls between rooms quite literally, but that I want to bring them down figuratively! The thought being-- why must the living room have just couches and side-tables, bedrooms have just beds and so on… If the purpose of distinguished rooms is to define spaces and make it more practicable or convenient, then it has been doing anything but that for me! I see the benefit to defining spaces and creating a system, but it does not have to conform to established norms that have very little functional value!
When I conform to these standard room types, I am making use of less than a quarter of the 1300 sq. ft space that I currently rent. When I am home, I am either on the couch, or on the bed, or in the kitchen - with the couch being the most occupied piece of furniture and space in the apartment! The wastage defeats everything I believe in – a) it is an ecological waste - seeing as I have literally increased my footprint on this planet with no quantifiable benefit to me! It’s a waste of space, energy, resources, what have you. b) It makes no economical sense to buy more than I require! c) It is in no way creative use of space!
That being said, I can’t bring myself to live in a 400 sq. ft space even if that is as much area as I will be using. The unused area is something I still need, and its purpose is just to give me that “breathing space”, like the blank spaces in a busy painting! But, my peeve is when I am not using it creatively or efficiently enough when I want to!
I think it is ironic that the more money a person makes, the less say they have in the things they do or buy. Every house in the world is more or less alike in the overall organizational theme, even when it comes to aesthetics. They only differ in the price of the possessions, but in general there is nothing in the world that brings all humans together like the concepts of living rooms and bedrooms! Couches arranged horizontally and vertically, with a painting on the walls behind them, a tv in front of them, a few side tables, a book shelf, some artifacts or plants –- that's the definition of a living room in every part of the world!
I want a bookshelf in every room with comics and magazines in the bathroom, non-thinking novels in the bedroom, thought-provoking books for the metro, conversational books for the living room and so on. I want a pingpong table whereever it will fit, even if it is right in the middle of the living room, I want to be able to make coffee closest to the patio or the couch where I watch tv, read a book, talk on the phone and spend the most time drinking coffee! I want to replace my large fridge with three tiny fridges that I can spread out in the areas I most use so that I don't have to walk too far to get myself a beer or a glass of milk! (By the way, three tiny fridges is more energy efficient than one big fridge). I want an easy-chair in the kitchen to read a book or listen to music while I wait for my food to get cooked! I can go on! The point being, I want to imagine a world where every room had a little bit of everything neatly arranged into a system, but not quite in the "bedroom, living room, kitchen!" sort of fashion. Imagine little compartmentalized areas based on activity. The "comics and magazines" area, the "bird watching window", "the laptop couch", "the kitchen sofa" and so on..
I also want to bring the outside inside as much as possible. I don't like the idea of seeing nature only when I get out of the house, when in fact I AM a part of it and it is meant to be all around me!
I want the best bang for the buck, and the kind of bang that is both appealing and convenient (Speaking of bang, it seems to apply to other aspects of my life as well .. ;-) .. but I digress!)
People who have known me long enough or seen this about me, know this about me! So this post is yet another redundant discussion on my biggest rant about cookie-cutter houses, but I can't say it enough. I don’t come all the way to America, to the land of freedom and opportunity, to live in a cookie cutter house!
DAD COMPLETELY AGREES :D
MOM SAYS SHE CANT WAIT TO COME HOME AND CLEAN MY CUPBOARD, AND THINKS I AM MAKING EXCUSES FOR BEING LAZY... AND THAT THE "NO ROOMS" CONCEPT WAS INTERESTING!
TAPI LOVES ME NO MATTER WHAT! :D
